Others may chime in, but my understanding is that Picea abies 'Pendula' will grow straight upright only to the point where it has been staked. From that point on, I have seen some that weep straight to the ground and spread out there like the train on a wedding dress and others that meander (although I am not sure if the latter was the result of variable staking)...

But lets say you stake it to be 12 ft tall, and leave it for a few years to "fix" it that way. Then can you remove the stake, and that 12 feet will remain standing upright? Or will I always need to keep that staked for support?

I'm certain the part that grows beyond 12 ft will go straight back to the ground, so far it has shown no interest in meandering, it just wants to go back to the ground!

No, you will not always need to keep it staked for support. Eventually it will stiffen up at whatever height it has been staked to.

The correct cultivar name for this conifer is Picea abies 'Reflexa'.

It is seen in most nursery's as 'Pendula'.

The one posted here was staked for vertical growth 12 years ago for two years for obvious reasons. Since then it has continued its vertical accent. Another I have was not staked. It grows vertical but wanders all over the place. The same conifer but two totally different growing habits.

Dave

{{gwi:736793}}

BEAUTIFUL Dave(and very nice garden). I'm certain mine would be more insistant on going back to the ground(the part that isn't staked) so I guess that shows how much personality each tree has. However, it is very good to know that it will eventually harden up.

Speaking of staking, what do you use for a stake, once the spruce gets on the taller side?

Dave: Nice picture. Is that a Ginkgo on a standard in the right side of your bed? If so what is the cultivar?

weeper, I don't believe I have seen you on the forum before now. It is always good to have new participation. Welcome.

"Speaking of staking, what do you use for a stake, once the spruce gets on the taller side"?

Go to your local nursery and buy the appropriate size stake for you conifer. They come in 1/4 up to 1 inch in size and in different lengths. They are aluminum and plastic covered. Use stretch tape, also available at the nursery, to secure stake to the harden off part of the trunk up to where you need to retrain the new leader. Do so before new leader hardens off. If retraining a small cultivar just drive stake in ground and secure the plant as shown above.

There are other ways to train. Ken uses the clothes line approach. An acceptable method but I like to suck the leader up close as this puts even pressure all along the area to be retrained.

Shown is a Picea orientalis 'Nutans'. A side branch graft that has been on the stake since 2007. It is coming around and soon will be a show stopper. I need 2 more feet in height then I will cut it loose. You can see the method I used to train it.

Dave

{{gwi:736795}}

baxz5oh

Yes. The cultivar name is 'Witch's Broom'.

Dave

Dave - I have been here a few times in that last couple of years. Normally I hang out in the far north section. Frankly, I find the amount of knowledge in this section to be really staggering, and a little bit intimidating for day-to-day posting! But I know I'll always get a knowledgeable answer if I ask. I do often lurk to look at pics. For the most part, I can only afford the "regular" stuff at the greenhouse, but I can still drool over all of your beautiful collections!

Unfortunately, I think my spruce has already hardened somewhat in a slightly leaning forward angle, and also has begun hardening with the leader drooping down from where the last tie to the stake was. Argh. I guess I'll just try to straighten it as best I can without breaking or stressing something. I'm sure 10 years down the road it won't matter too much, it'll just be one more oddity to it's oddness. I've been using rebar[sp?] to stake it, but I ran out of ones that are tall enough, so I'll have to check the nursery when I'm there next. I noticed male strobiles(hee hee hee, I learned a new term in the last couple days!) on it yesterday!

the short answer..

you have to stake a weeper to the height you prefer ... at which time you stop and let it go downward if it is so inclined... and 'that type' ....

and then you have to leave the stake there .. until its trunk thickens enough to hold itself up ...

if in fact you have dave's type ... then once trained skyward .. it should not need a long term stake ...

ken

There you have the long and the short of it kind of answer.

Anything else?

Dave

No, I'm very satisfied with the answers, thanks! Now the next thing is to get another weeping spruce(cause I can't get enough).

The other ones that I have seen in regular greenhouses have been Picea glauca 'Pendula'(which is I think what I'll go for) as well as Picea abies 'Frohburg', which I am not particularly taken with, because I prefer a more sprawling form. Wish I had more to choose from! I'm in zone 2b, by the way. I generally get away with zone 3 and zone 4.